Like most Colorado theater artists, Kenny Moten also has a day job. His just happens to be running an entire company of his own invention. Moten is the founder of Narrative Creative Consulting, which presents entertainment events and uses art to help clients around the world to shape creative brand strategies. His impressive client roster has included National Jewish Hospital, Snooze Eatery and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
For most people, one full-time job is plenty. Moten also co-created and produces a touring, audience-participation musical juggernaut called “Motones vs. Jerseys” – or “MvJ,” as the kids call it. That’s a feel-good evening featuring the nostalgic music of Motown and The Four Seasons in a good-natured competition.
With nine singers and a six-piece band at every show, “MvJ” has employed hundreds of actors and musicians over its (at least) six years, and the franchise is going strong into 2023 with upcoming dates at The Candlelight in Johnstown (Jan. 19-22), Statesboro, Ga.; Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Hamlet, N.C.
And then there’s the directing. Moten, who has himself performed on stages from New York to Los Angeles, directed four big musicals at four different theaters in four Colorado cities in 2022, winding up with the Arvada Center’s nearly sold-out “Beauty and the Beast” (closing Dec. 31).
And also these:
Hannah Dotson and Sharon Kay White in the Aurora Fox's 'Freaky Friday,' directed by Kenny Moten.
• “Murder on the Orient Express” at The Candlelight in Johnstown
• “Freaky Friday” at the Aurora Fox
• “Cabaret” for OpenStage Theatre & Company of Fort Collins
Moten lives in Fort Collins. One shudders to think how many miles he put on his car this year.
“Kenny is the most grounded and organized director I have ever worked with,” said Ethan Walker, who starred as the Emcee in “Cabaret.” “He is efficient, direct and is open to collaborating while guiding you to brilliant choices. He provides the perfect space to feel safe being creative.”
“Beauty and the Beast” marks Moten’s first directing gig at the Arvada Center, and it’s clear that his creative vision for a story that ironically focuses on making a cursed beast human again was to make the entire show feel more human for both the audience and the actors performing in it.
“I didn’t want this to feel like an amusement-park show. This is theater,” Moten told journalist Toni Tresca of the Arvada Press. “While it is still the Disney extravaganza that you remember, we talked a lot about allowing this special group of people to create stellar musical theater.”
That group of humans is led by Colorado newcomer Zina Ellis, who instantly becomes one of the first actors of color to headline a professional stage production of “Beauty and the Beast” as the independent, booksmart Belle. “It’s an honor to play a character who is such a great role model and who means so much to so many people of all ages,” Ellis told Tresca.
Ethan Walker with the cast of Openstage & Company's 'Cabaret,' directed by Kenny Moten,
Moten’s 2022 also included singing in a USO benefit for Ukraine that raised $30,000 at The Candlelight. He served for a fourth year on the Board of Directors for the Denver Actors Fund, an all-volunteer organization that has made more than $1 million available to Colorado theater artists in medical need. And just this past Thursday, he co-headlined a holiday cabaret with Webb at Ace Gillett’s supper club in Fort Collins.
“Kenny does everything with integrity. He’s a solid human being,” said The Candlelight’s Jalyn Courtenay Webb. “I have watched Kenny quietly under the radar for so many years, and now to see him front and center is just wonderful.”
Kenny Moten talks about the Denver Actors Fund before a benefit performance of 'Xanadu' at the Town Hall Arts Center in Littleton.
Coming up in what promises to be a very busy 2023, Moten will be directing the Lydia R. Diamond play “Toni Stone” for the Aurora Fox, about the first woman to play baseball in the Negro Leagues (March 10-April 2). He will direct “Dreamgirls” in the Lone Tree Arts Center’s return to producing homegrown theater (dates to be announced). He will direct “Pippin” for Little Theatre of the Rockies in Greeley (July 27-30). He will direct an as-yet unannounced musical at the Denver Center’s Galleria Theatre. And he will finish the year directing “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” for The Candlelight (Nov. 24, 2022-Jan. 28, 2023).
Just call him Motorin’ Moten. He’s always on the move.
Note: The True West Awards, now in their 22nd year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community by revisiting 30 of the best stories from the past year without categories or nominations. *